Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a method of driving a circuit, and more particularly, to a power control circuit for reducing switching time and securing testability at the transition from a sleep mode to an active mode, a semiconductor device including the same, and a method of driving the same.
A power control circuit (which is also called a power switching circuit) is widely used in integrated circuit design to reduce power consumption. The power control circuit reduces leakage current by cutting off the power supply to a logic circuit in a sleep mode.
However, at the transition from the sleep mode to an active mode, the power control circuit needs to supply power to a block that will be activated again. At this time, current changes rapidly, which leads unnecessary noise in a system. The noise adversely affects the circuit, causing malfunction of the system.